THE NEXT STEP
Q&A with the new mayor on his win and what comes next
Following a weekend that saw him catch up on sleep and his daughter’s soccer games, Memphis mayor-elect Jim Strickland visited The Commercial Appeal last Monday for a 33-minute podcast interview with politics editor Kyle Veazey.
The entire interview is available at commercialappeal.com/ informemphis, but here’s a sampling of the high points, edited and condensed for clarity and brevity: Q Are you surprised you won by 20 points? Were you expecting the race to be closer? A “A little bit. I thought the potential was there. But I’m a little bit surprised. I’m obviously very pleased. I think I’m one of probably 10 people when, in January of this year when I announced, I thought I could win. Even as late as June and July I’d have people, ‘Can you win? Can you win?’ And I kept saying, ‘Yes.’ By then, I really thought I’d win.” Q What does mayoral transition look like on the ground? Walk us through from here to Jan. 1. A “I don’t know if I can, because I did nothing about transition before the election. Friday I kind of rested and did a bunch of media. Saturday and Sunday I took off. Today I’m trying to get up to speed. I’m trying to appoint a transition committee of community leaders, which would have two or three co-chairs and ‘X’ number of members, to help me hire the best possible people at City Hall. That’s the No. 1 job. And I think in the next day or two we’ll have those co-chairs we can announce. And maybe the whole community, but we don’t know for sure.” Q What will we take away from your staff when you fill it out? A “Well, No. 1, there’s some really good, quality people. Quality is the No. 1 goal. And also, it will be diverse — Memphis is very diverse. On racial lines. It will be diverse, gender-wise. And probably background-wise. Government, business and so forth. That would be ideal. And there might be some people held on from the current administration, if they want to stay.” Q One of those directors in question is Toney Armstrong. What kind of things would you talk to him about? A “He’s in the DROP plan. I would want to know his plans. I want to know his philosophy on policing. Obviously, he knows more than I do. He’s an expert. But I think you might have heard during the campaign that I like Blue CRUSH. ... I want to hit his thoughts on it. I laid out a philosophy and I want to know if it jibes with his philosophy, and what I can learn from him. I’ve said many times that I’ve been very impressed with how he handles himself. He’s a big proponent of community policing, which I think we do need, and I’ve said that. ” Q Talking about the city’s finances, you’re still a long way off from the pension annual contribution. How do you get there by 2020? A “It is really hard. ... Plus, debt problems. Plus, we have to do something to retain and recruit police officers and firefighters. So I always say we have three financial challenges: No. 1, pension; No. 2, debt; and No. 3, financial enticements for police and fire. Which really adds up. We have roughly a $640, $650 million annual budget and $25 or $30 more million in pensions, ‘X’ number for debt, because it does, I don’t know exactly what year, but soon, it will get up. And then something for the police and fire. We have real serious problems. I can’t sit here right now and say I have the magic answer for it. ... I will also do the best I possibly can on trying to eliminate as many unnecessary positions as I can in city government. Q Does that mean layoffs are a possibility?
A “Yeah. Or, eliminate positions.”
Q But it could mean layoffs are a possibility. A “Yes. ... (Strickland explains that setting aside the number of city librarians, he believes the number of appointed city employees is about 100-120.) “I can’t sit here and tell you that I’m going to eliminate ‘X’ number of those. But I will work as hard as I can to eliminate as many as I can. And then we may have to eliminate things in the city budget that may be good but they’re not necessary. Because we have all these three challenges that we have.” Q The one thing you didn’t say in all that talking: tax increase. I know that’s strategic for you, but, my point is, you’ve outlined all these problems, but it sounds like to me that working with the tax rate or increasing it is not something you’re automatically going toward. A “Oh, absolutely not. But I’ve never taken a pledge not to raise taxes. But I’ve also never voted for a property tax increase. Because I believe that property taxes — the fact that Memphians pay more in property taxes than anywhere else in the state, I think that works against us in recruiting people. … I really firmly believe that a big property tax increase would hasten people leaving this city.” Q There are a lot of options out there as to what city government looks like and feels like in five or 10 years. Are you open to remaking all of the different ways city government services are delivered?
A “Absolutely. Including restructuring government. I’m open to any — again I’m going to take every step possible to come up with this money without a tax increase.” Q Your crime plan was the No. 1 thing people criticized you for. What do people have wrong about your crime plan? A “Well, I think some people purposely misled people, and some people didn’t know. What they had wrong was, when I said ‘zero tolerance,’ I was talking about violent crime. A violent act on another human being. … Most of the public, by far, agrees with me. Harold Collins agreed with me. And I would give the same speech wherever I went in the community. It wasn’t ‘Oh, he’s just playing to an East Memphis crowd.’ I said it all over. And, in fact, I had a slip of a tongue in Whitehaven one night and I said, ‘They need to be taken down to Juvenile Court or taken home.’ And after, when I was doing the question-and-answer, they said, ‘Oh no, they should not be taken home. They need to feel a consequence.’ ”